Friday, April 1, 2016
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The stone
that the builders rejected has now become the cornerstone.
This is the Lord’s doing, and it is wonderful to see.
This is the day the Lord has made. We will rejoice and be glad in it.
This is the Lord’s doing, and it is wonderful to see.
This is the day the Lord has made. We will rejoice and be glad in it.
Psalm
118:22-24(NLT)
For Jesus is the one referred to in the Scriptures, where it says,
‘The stone that you builders rejected has now become the cornerstone.’
There is
salvation in no one else! God has given
no other name under heaven by which we must be saved.” Acts
4:11-12(NLT)
An Inconvenient
Truth is the name of a documentary that chronicles former
Vice President Al Gore’s attempts to awaken our culture about the crisis of
global warming.[2] Putting the subject matter aside, the phrase “inconvenient
truth” is pungent; if you take the truth seriously there will be some
inconvenient changes on your horizon.
With the global warming issue, reducing our carbon footprint means oil,
which means revenue. It means coal,
which means revenue. Get the
picture? Very inconvenient!
And so…to the
truth issue which is most inconvenient…because it not only changes things
connected with revenue…it affects everything in your life, past, present and
future – throughout eternity. You not
only live differently, you must think differently and it is likely to tick some
people off – it got Peter and most of the other disciples a violent death at
the hands of the establishment.
For someone like
me, this is incredibly inconvenient. I
have spent the better part of my life helping to lead in the church, and I also
hate conflict.
Peter had a history of speaking
before his brain was in gear; but becoming a man of prayer he began to know the
difference…and so should we if we are to be like the Good Shepherd we serve; we
wait for the Spirit. Everything Peter
said had a clear focus on the life, death and resurrection
of Jesus. It was all centered in the
Gospel.
What Peter said was God has Power to give life over death
Central to all apostolic preaching is
the resurrection. Without the
resurrection there is no Christianity.
Paul said that if there is no resurrection we are still in our
sins…we’re dead.
When you speak truth to power, speak
in the clarity and certainty that even if the powers that be put you to
death for daring to stand up for righteousness, God will raise you up and
accomplish His will.
What Peter said was God’s Purpose is to save all who “will”
Peter referred to Jesus as the stone
the builders rejected, a bold picture of Jesus as God-incarnate…worthy
of worship. He said this cornerstone
of truth was sent to save us from sin and death.
Peter spoke the truth that you can
choose Jesus, or you can choose sin and death; but you can’t have both.
What Peter said was the ONLY Pathway to God is Jesus
In some circles[3]
Jesus is not the only way to God.
If you claim that Jesus is the only way to God, you’re deemed an
exclusivist and narrow-minded.
But that was what Peter said – no
other name under heaven by which we must be saved.
The choices are obvious when it comes
to speaking Christian Truth to power – Christ, crucified, risen and
coming again….OR…heresy and
death.
For You Today
You can be a Good Shepherd follower,
or you can follow the crowd. Doing both
is not an option.
[1] Title Image: By Ammodramus (Own work) [Public domain],
via Wikimedia
Commons
[3]
By this I mean progressive-thinking persons who hold that Jesus is not the only
way to salvation.
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